the Italy national team on 15 September 1961, in a 4–1 friendly victory against Argentina in Florence, under manager Giovanni Ferrari. His final international game took place in June 1972, when Italy drew 1–1 in a friendly match with Bulgaria, held in Sofia. Under new manager Edmondo Fabbri, Albertosi became a regular in Italy's squad; he played his first World Cup with Italy in England 1966, where they were surprisingly and disappointingly knocked out in the first round. In the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Albertosi was once again named Italy's starting goalkeeper, due to his excellent and consistent performances throughout the season with Cagliari. He started in all of Italy's matches, and was involved in the so-called "Game of the Century", when Italy played West Germany in the semi-final of the tournament; despite conceding three goals in this match, and some moments of hesitation and indecisiveness, Albertosi later won praise for a string of decisive acrobatic saves. He is also remembered for berating Gianni Rivera during the match, following the playmaker's error when defending a set-piece, which led to Germany's equaliser: Rivera briefly stepped away from the post, leaving it unmarked, and allowing Gerd Müller to score his second goal to tie the match at 3–3 in the 110th minute; Rivera later redeemed himself by scoring the match-winner a minute later. Albertosi later appeared in the 1970 World Cup Final, where Italy became tournament runners-up as they lost 4–1 to Brazil. Albertosi was also an unused squad member in the 1962 World Cup in Chile under Ferrari, behind Lorenzo Buffon and Carlo Mattrel, and at the 1974 World Cup, behind his perceived career rival Dino Zoff, with whom he often faced competition for the Italy number 1 shirt due to the coaches' rotation policy. Albertosi was similarly an unused back-up goalkeeper behind Zoff at the 1968 European Football Championship, which Italy won on home soil, although he later managed to fight off competition from Zoff for a place in the starting line-up at the 1970 World Cup. He missed out on a place as Italy's third goalkeeper at the 1978 FIFA World Cup, however. In total, he played 34 times for the national team between 1961 and 1972. Style of play Albertosi was a physically strong, eccentric, whimsical, and athletic goalkeeper, with a hot temper; he is regarded as one of the greatest and most spectacular Italian goalkeepers of